The already gloomy cave seemed to grow gloomier and gloomier with Qin Chengâs words.
âNo, this canât be⊠maybe itâs something left over from the internal battles of the grave robbers at that time?â He Xing said that, but he didnât even believe it himself.
âYouâre suggesting this was done by ghosts and spirits, Qin Cheng. How can they even exist?!â Zhang Qishuo looked at Qin Cheng, who didnât look good, and sneered: âWeâre a bunch of grown up men, what are we afraid of? Weâre not little girls.â
Zhang Qishuo had always looked at Qin Cheng unpleasantly from long ago. No matter whether it was about a research topic or a study opportunity, Qin Cheng always stood in front of him, and he was always Li Guoxianâs favorite student. However, Li Guoxianâs obvious bias towards Qin Cheng made Zhang Qishuo feel deeply hurt and jealous for a long time. Zhang Qishuo was convinced that Qin Cheng had killed Jiang Bo and injured Lin Hongxing, or at least, he hoped that was the case. What strange forces, what ghosts, and he didnât even know whatâs wrong with everyone, but they were stupid enough to believe such things, and they didnât even hold Qin Cheng accountable!
âWe wonât talk whether there are ghosts or not, and who are you trying to insult with that?â Wu Hai understood what Zhang Qishuo was thinking, and if he hadnât experienced that thing that night, he mightâve been thinking the same exact thing as Zhang QishuoâŠ.
âHey, who did I insult? Wu Hai, will you stop fucking talking nonsense?â
âIââŠâ
âI canât guess who you were talking about.â Qin Cheng smiled. âBut, why donât we as the only girl, oh no, I should say woman among us. Go on, ask Li-jiejie <sup>1</sup> if she knows who you were talking about?â
Li Ying, who was very angry with Zhang Qishuoâs âgirlyâ insult, glanced at him and with a sweet smile she said: âIâm a girly woman, so I should be scared.â She took off her gloves and hat to throw it hard at Zhang Qishuo. âSince youâre a man, you wonât be afraid, right?â After saying that, she turned around and left without looking back.
âCome on! Whatâs going on here? Weâre not teenagers anymore! Thereâs no time to be afraid, even by this recent event.â Tang Jiaming was always considered as the more mature among these youths, and even if he had his own doubts about all this, he couldnât say them directly at this time. Instead, he could only frown and say: âIâm certain that this situation was caused by an accidental collapse of the cave⊠well, this wasnât the point. Our priority is to clear out some of the artifacts scattered around here, now that they were dug out, they must naturally be protected.â
When Tang Jiaming said this, Zhang Qishuo had to hold back his words and hesitantly nodded his head. Moreover, according to the current situation, the most important thing was the cultural relics in front of him, they canât leave them behind. And even though there was still a little bit of resentment inside his heart about the issue with Lin Hongxing, but, compared to the precious treasure in front of him, that bit of resentment was nothing.
However, after the workers heard them talking about the unusual death of the grave robbers, and hinting at Lin Hongxingâs strange situations, none of them were willing to stay and help with work any longer. Even if they were offered 300 yuan <sup>2</sup> extra tonight, at most, only one worker would stay.
"
"
The setting sunâs afterglow was disappearing very quickly. Without the help of the several workers, and the absence of the pissed off Li Ying, the speed of the work progress was way more slower than before. By the time they finished clearing the surface layer of the visible artifacts, it was already dark all around.
The tunnel was slim and dark, and since they didnât expect to work at night, only one searchlight was prepared. The light was bright at the low end of the tunnel, but not at the front. After cleaning up, Qin Cheng stood up and looked at the darkness, and the six present Archeologists were all working hard. For a brief moment, Qin Cheng was somewhat stunned, after all, only a dozen or so days had passed since that night that scared him for life, and yet, he felt like he forgot his fear while staying here⊠Wasnât he afraid to die and get stuck in here forever?
âQin Cheng, come here and take a look. Look at what we found just now.â Wu Hai came over with a gold-made square Zun <sup>3</sup> , and with excitement, he said: âThere are words on it!â
Wu Haiâs tiredness was pretty obvious on his face, but it still couldnât hide the look of excitement that filled him, and if it wasnât for his restraining himself, Qin Cheng almost suspected that Wu Hai would be jumping out of joy.
Qin Cheng couldnât help but shake his head chuckling, the other Archeologists had their own thoughts, for example, Zhang Qishuo, who had a problem with him, and Wu Hai, who was still insisting on the artifact he found⊠Qin Cheng didnât want to know what they were thinking about, nor could he guess either, but one thing was for sure, the six people present at the moment were all exceptionally attached to this ancient tomb⊠to sum it up, out of the six of them, the latest to come into contact with the tomb was He Xing, who also stayed here for 3 whole yearsâŠ.
All of them wanted to find the truth, to remove the confusion from their hearts, and to know the great secret hidden under this Mountain⊠all of them were crazy for knowledge, so they choose to ignore the imminent danger, and everything thatâll face them.
With the help of the light, Qin Cheng carefully identified the engraved characters on the square Zun.
â Qing ?â
âYes, itâs a Qing character. Could this be the name or a character from the owner of the tomb?â
Qin Cheng held his glasses and frowned: âIâm not sure, this square Zun doesnât have too many patterns besides being made out of gold. Itâs really the simplest and unimpressive of all gold vessels, but since it was buried with the tombâs owner, then it should be something that he loved before dying, or something of great significanceâŠâ
âQin Cheng, look, thereâs an indentation in this side corner of the square Zun!
Sure enough, itâs easy to see that the other three sides of the square Zunâs mouth were flat and smooth, only one side had a wedge-shaped indentation.
âThere should be another square Zun that has a raised wedge that can be paired with this one.â Wu Hai said with a smile. âCould the other one be on the Empress Mausoleum not far away? I guess the Emperor was a sentimental and affectionate person, hahahaha.â
After nodding, Qin Cheng said what was on his mind: âI just donât knowâŠâ
âAahhââ! Helpââââ!!â
Before he could finish what he was trying to say, he was interrupted by Zhang Qishuoâs scream.
Turning their heads back in response, the scene in front of them immediately caused them to change their faceâs expression from calm to panic.
Located at the deepest side of the cave, Zhang Qishuoâs left foot somehow sank a little bit into the solid earth, while a large amount of thick black blood emerged from the top of his head. Zhang Qishuo was staring at them with frightened eyes, while also screaming from the top of his lungs, however, he seemed like he couldnât move, as if he was frozen in place or held back by something. The only thing he could do was to wave his arms frantically.
âHelp me! Please, help me!â
Last time, Qin Cheng couldnât see anything weird, so he didnât know what had happened to Lin Hongxing, but right now, he was able to see that skeleton hands were holding Zhang Qishuoâs left foot, dragging him down a little bit. Beside him, a long-haired ghost with only one eyeball was carrying a bronze hammer, with that hammer he was constantly smashing it on top of Zhang Qishuoâs head.
His heart was beating at a rapid speed, and his blood was running like a tiger out of his cage. When the ghost giggled and looked right at him, Qin Cheng could even clearly feel himself shaking, and every single hair on his body stood upright.
âRun! Run away from here!â
(àčËÍ à„ąêŽ ËÍ)ăâĄ à„°à„±
Footnotes
<ol><b>ć§ć§</b> <b>jiÄjiÄ</b> ; Older Sister. About USD$ 44 (2020). <b>æčć°</b> <b>fÄng</b> <b>zĆ«n</b> ; An ancient wine vessel used in ancient and important rituals, these ritual vessels were treated with special respect, so the word âZunâ also means ârespectâ. The decorations on the vessel are mainly animal-faced.</ol>